15.12.05
Whistler
So i had my new skis and i was ready to try them out. Karl had said he was interested in a day’s skiing, and we had set the date for last Monday the 12 December. Karl picked me up at 6am and after a stop at the Starbucks just around the corner we were headed north for the just under two hour drive to Whistler-Blackcomb. One of Canada’s most famous ski resorts, North America’s biggest and host of the 2010 Winter Olympics. It had been a few years since i had been on skis so i was looking forward to getting back into the swing of things, and there was no better place to do it. Karl is a bit of a gun on skis so it was to be a bit of an easy day for him skiing with me on the blue runs when he is probably used to spending all his time on the double black diamonds.
Anyway after arriving in Whistler and kitting up and picking up my lift pass, it was onto the Gondola for the ride up the hill. The resort at Whistler is at about 600m above sea level. The Peak is close to 2200m asl. When conditions are good you can ski top to bottom. However as it is still early in the ski season here in Canada and most of the snow at Whistler is up the top on the higher ground. In fact it was still early season skiing and because of that the lift tickets were cheaper than they usually are. It was possible to ski down to the Mid Station of the Gondola if you picked the right trails, however Karl and i stayed up top.
The weather started off ok but as the day went on it got very overcast and foggy, especially on the upper-upper slopes, so there were not a lot of photos. As the day wore on we moved on to progressively harder terrain as i started to recall how this skiing thing was done. So Karl decided to move on the other side of the top peak. Karl claimed he hadn’t skiied that side of the hill and that we’d be alright, however when we came across this sign i wasn’t exactly insipred with confidence…
I managed to get down in one piece so that was something. At the end of the day it was karl who fell more than i did. Although he fell when he was trying to pull tricks, i just fell because i can’s ski!
At 3pm it was time to head back down to the village (the lifts close at 3 as it is completely dark at about 4:30 they need time to get people off the mountain), as you can’t ski down completely just yet it was back onto the Gondola and ride that back to the village. We then dumped all the stuff back into the car and had a look around the village. It was just like i had imagined that a proper ski village should be. All linked together by paved walkways and streets. We had a look around the village where the shops range from expensive name brand clothing retailers to starbucks. Also there is an abundance of Pubs and Eating establishments. I imagine it would be a great place to stay, albeit expensive.
After a stop at Starbucks it was time to head back to the car and back to Vancouver. I’m glad Karl was driving as the conditions did not make for a relaxing drive. So it was a successful first day of skiing, hopefully the first of many with my new gear.